Today is a big day in the Carden house: my three-year-old son Jacob took a step toward independence and earned his first money in the labor market. Jacob and I went to Brother Juniper’s, which in a bit of serendipity was featured in this morning’s paper, for breakfast. In my opinion and with apologies to my beloved City Cafe, it’s the best breakfast place anywhere. When the waitress delivered the check, Jacob picked it up. I decided to let him “pay,” gave him the credit card, and directed him to the cash register. The cashier asked him if he wanted to help her press the buttons to ring up our order. Given Jacob’s fascination with buttons, this was a real treat. He performed admirably given that he has the attention span of a three-year-old, and the cashier rewarded him with a penny for his efforts. It illustrates an important point about economic progress: small things add up to big things.
I was interviewed for this local news segment on jobs in the Memphis area, and I pointed out that it’s a mistake to think one company or two companies will be able to come in and fix everything. Picking winners and losers builds political capital, but it doesn’t create prosperity. We get prosperity when we have the conditions that allow people to seek and find opportunities to cooperate for mutual advantage.
Good job, son. You made your father very proud today. It’s only a penny, but I hope it’s the first of many.
In order to comply with the laws about blogging and product placement, I should point out that I received no valuable consideration from Brother Juniper’s or City Cafe in exchange for mentioning them in this blog post.
